


Damascus

by Spoiler1001



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Confessions, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mind Meld, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27927658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoiler1001/pseuds/Spoiler1001
Summary: There's more than one way to make a promise
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 1
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

"You're trying to stop me," Lucien growled. "The lot of you went behind my back, and you won't let me go home!" 

The gore of the creature with an infant's face laid the feet of everyone in the room. The Tombtakers were outside. The mighty nein were watching Lucien. He was tense, his teeth were clenched, and the blood boiled at his feet. 

"If it were anyone else, you would have already been-" he hissed. His voice cracked. "I trusted you and you-"

Caleb took a deep breath and stepped forward. "We want you to go home, and this thing, Lucien, it will destroy you," Caleb spoke, trying to fight his emotions back. "We are loyal to you. We are loyal to _Lucien_ , not the magic or the source of it." 

"You know nothing about what my teachers expect of me based on what I've been taught." Tears built in his eyes.

"Then show me." Caleb held his hand out towards Lucien. Lucien just stared at the hand, his tail moving closer to him and wrapping around him. 

"What?" Lucien burrowed his eyebrows. 

"Show me what your teachers taught you and I'll show you what my teachers did to me." Caleb's voice was soft, soothing. Lucien made a chirp from the back of his throat. 

"How exactly do you suggest we do that?" Lucien hissed. 

"The same way you did with your tomb takers." Caleb took a step forward. 

"And leave myself vulnerable to your group attacking me?" Lucien grabbed the handle of his sword. 

"They will not do such." Caleb lulled at the rest of the group. 

The blood parted into two, creating a pathway from where Caleb was, leading towards Lucien. 

Caleb walked towards him with confidence. He dropped his scarf off with Veth. He kept his eyes locked with Lucien's. 

Once Caleb was at arm's length, Lucien spun them around, with Celeb's back against ice. The Mighty Nein jumped forward to lash out, but Caleb raised his hand. The group stopped. 

"You seem to trust me, Mr…." 

"Caleb." 

"Well Mr. Caleb, let's see if you still feel this way afterward." 

Lucien placed one hand over the vein on the side of Caleb's neck and one over Caleb's heart. 

Caleb was relaxed and was mostly focused on the sensations around the magic. 

To the group not intimately involved with the spell it took seconds. To Lucien and Caleb, it was two lifetimes. Lucien saw Caleb discovering magic, going to school every lesson, every shard of residuum placed under his skin, every scream, Lucien saw the fires and felt every grief. Caleb saw something all too similar to him, but sticking differences. He saw an orphan raised on the streets, brought into a group, and the lessons, Caleb could feel every cut It took for him to learn the blood magic, the joy he felt when the blade he was using frosted over. He saw the trainers turn their back on Lucien and the drive he felt to prove himself. The push to be the nonagon, to do something that would make people love him. 

Lucien pulled away, but only slightly. He stood up straight, with one arm under Caleb's armpit to keep him steady. Lucien turned to face the rest of the group. "This isn't over, but for today...I'm done." Lucien took a deep breath, turned back towards Caleb for a moment, and walked away. 

"It's alright, Lucien," Caleb whispered. Lucien's tail twitched at the sound. 

"You say that now." 

* * *

Caleb was reading a book. It was something he read at the academy to comfort himself. Frumpkin laid next to him. The fireplace was lit and warm. Frumpkin looked up for a moment and that's all the warning he got before he felt hands wrap around his stomach, and a body sliding under his book. 

Caleb looked down and saw purple hair, curling, and far longer than he remembered. Lucien wasn't looking at him, his chest rumbling softly and it was hard to say if that was because of purring or growling. 

Caleb took a deep breath and reached over to put the book down, causing Lucien to tighten his grip. 

A moment passed, then two, before Caleb wrapped his arms around Lucien. No words were exchanged between the two. No one knew where to start. Eventually, Caleb felt his shirt start to get wet. Oh. 

Caleb looked down to see Lucien's shoulders shaking, soft sobs becoming audible. 

Caleb didn't know what to do. All the emotions that must be going through Lucien, he needed something solid, someone solid. 

Caleb placed a small kiss on Lucien's head, just holding him until sleep overtook him. 


	2. Chapter 2

Lucien was gone the next morning. Caleb had expected it. He woke up to a cold bed and the weight on his chest was gone. Caleb took a deep breath and went to freshen up. 

There was a knock on the door. Caleb was in the middle of pinning his hair up. He opened the door to see Fjord looking at him. 

"Hey, just checking up on you." Fjord the back of his neck with one hand. "That whole thing with Lucien… you still have bruises on your neck." There was a slight smell of cinnamon in the air. 

Caleb placed his hand over the bruise. "It's the price of Lucien's magic." 

"Speaking of which, we saw him leave. He looked better." Fjord sighed. "Did he get what he wanted?" 

"I don't think he knows what he wants." Caleb sighed.

"Well does he still want to kill us?" 

"Maybe." 

"Will he try?" 

"No."

A moment passed before Caleb left his room, bracing himself. 

* * *

The breakfast was awkward. Everyone looked at Caleb. He took a deep breath. "We should keep going." 

"To stop the city?" 

"Even if Lucien is hesitant-" Caleb nodded. 

"Is he hesitant though? You saw how angry he was?" Beau spoke up. 

"He's confused; what he saw-" Caleb wrapped his arms around himself. 

"What did he see, what did you show him?" Yasha asked. 

"We saw everything." Caleb got pale. "He saw Molly." 

"The one thing he didn't want to know." Beau sighed. 

"I was in his head. He wanted to know why I would volunteer myself like that. Out was less of an 'I don't want to remember you' and more 'I've been alone so long, don't give me hope.' I gave him someone who understood. I gave him someone who was like him. I gave him what Yasha did. An equal." Caleb looked down. "Molly did the same for me." 

"Something slipped through," Veth spoke clearly. 

"I fell for Molly. I loved him." Caleb wiped the tears from his eyes. 

Silence filled the room. 

"He would have loved to hear that." Yasha stood up and hugged Caleb, wrapping her wings around them. 

"So what now?" Jester asked. 

"We get our guy. "

* * *

Lucien walked in the snow with the Tombtakers. The group as a whole was staying at him and Cree made her way closer to him. 

"You're tired, Lucien. Why don't I make it better?" She placed her hand on his back and whispered something in his ear. The memories shared between him and Caleb were fading.

"No. I want those." Lucien pushed Cree away. 

"It's poisoning all of us." Cree snapped and the big guy, their fighter, wrapped his arm around his throat and squeezed. Panic consumed Lucien and tears built up in his eyes. "It is best for all of us for you as The Nonagon to rest," Cree whispered, soothingly. Lucien screamed, but no sound was coming out. Eventually, his eyes closed, and he was dropped, barely breathing but alive nonetheless. 

* * *

Caleb was making his way into the snow, beside Dagon. 

"You looked troubled." Dagon supplied, chewing on some jerky. 

"Something...doesn't feel right about any of this," Caleb spoke quietly, his eyes unfocused, before snapping up, summoning his catclaw, and zipping away on it. 

The Tombtakers turned to see an orange claw racing at him. Lucien was still unconscious, but his tail was twitching. Cree sneered. "This guy? Kill him." Her eyes glowed and Lucien hand raised, causing Caleb to freeze, floating in the air. Tears filled his eyes and his hand shook. He coughed up blood a bit squeezed. Both Caleb and the fighter fell. Only Caleb stood up. The snow around Lucien's captor was red and very hot. 

Lucien was still weak. His legs shook and he gasped for breath. 

"Bastard! It's fine. We only needed your blood." Cree walked confidently towards Lucien with a dagger. 

Celeb prepared his spells, but he was too late. 

Cree grabbed Lucien's hair and cut along the eye tattoo, but it was way too deep. 

Caleb threw a fireball, but missed, only caring about catching Lucien. Cree and the others ran while Lucien was falling into Caleb's arms. Lucien was still alive, looking at Caleb. He wasn't scared or accusing, but he looked lost. The person that was all too loyal to him hurt him and left him to die. Caleb placed a hand on the wound, hot red blood coating his hand. Caleb whispered soothing words to him, promising that it would all be better, but eventually, Lucien's breath stopped.

Caleb brushed the hair out of his face, showing that his eyes were locked on him. That- a heartbeat passed, then two. Caleb allowed himself what he couldn't do before and held Lucien to his chest and cried. He let loose tears when the minute was up, knowing a resurrection spell was difficult now. A half-hour passed before the rest of the Mighty Nein made their way to him. Caleb's wear was soaked in blood. He was shaking with the force of his emotions, rocking back and forth. Caduceus placed a hand on the top of Celeb's head. Caleb flinched but recognized the texture and compassion of their healer. 

"They turned on him?" He asked, running his hands over the hair. Caleb nodded. "Take a deep breath. We won't take him from you, but we need his chest. You can hold him still." 

The spell took ten minutes, but Caduceus knew what he was doing. Lucien was breathing, but asleep. He curled into Caleb. Caleb stood up, confidently, and steadily held Lucien to his chest. 

"We should summon the tower. We need to plan our next move." Fjord whispered. Caleb nodded. 

Yasha gently took Lucien from Caleb. It was quiet but the tower was created, with a medical room next to all of the bedrooms. Caleb and Yasha made their way to a room on the eighth floor, now perfectly decorated.

* * *

Lucien woke up to two warm people on either side of him. In front of him was- oh. He remembered- oh. Her hair was now completely white. 

"Yasha…" he whispered. her eyes were opened in an instant. She smiled hesitantly. 

"Do you-"

"I'm me...but more." L-Molly nodded. He turned around. Caleb smelled of soap, his hair still wet. He had a hand loosely grasping the bottom of the spade of his tail. He was still sleeping. 

"How is he?" Molly hummed. 

"He's better. You helped make him better." Yasha played with Molly's hair.

"I'm glad. He deserves the best." Molly relaxed again. "We can deal with the Tombtakers later." 


End file.
